Montco Biopharma Company Working On Vaccine For COVID Variants

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA — A Montgomery County biopharmaceutical company that has long been in the global spotlight on COVID-19 vaccine development remains an important player in the future of the pandemic.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, based in Plymouth Meeting, has been bypassed by other companies like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna in bringing their medicine to market. But Inovio is continuing work on its unique DNA inoculation which they're now hopeful can be used to stop variants of coronavirus, both known and unknown.

"Inovio recognizes and applauds the incredible work to address the global COVID-19 pandemic across the industry, while also acknowledging the need for continued collaboration and coordination in vaccine development, manufacturing, and distribution," Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's president and CEO, said in a statement updating the company's progress in March.

The efficacy of the vaccines on new strains of the virus, which have originated in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa, and elsewhere, is one of the most talked about issues and most pressing questions facing health experts over the coming year.

Inovio says that it is working on a "next-generation, pan-COVID" vaccine and is testing how different strains impact its efficacy. In the first few months of 2021, Inovio enrolled 400 individuals in its Phase 2 and 3 trials.

Inovio drew international attention at the dawn of the pandemic when it declared that it would a million doses of a vaccine available by the end of 2020.

But their process hit a snag: because Inovio is working on DNA-based vaccines, they require a special device called a Cellectra to fire the medicine into the body. The FDA had many questions about that device, and their Phase 2 and 3 trials were delayed last September as they resolved these discrepancies.

Questions do also linger about production costs of the Cellectra. Inovio has already received significant federal grant money toward that production.

According to a recent analysis from Forbes magazine, Inovio's potentially high impact and simultaneous uncertainty is reflected in its stock trajectory, which has skyrocketed and plummeted alternatively in recent months.

The company expects to advance to the next stages of its trials later this year.